Assembly of a Proton Breeze M launch vehicle to launch DIRECTV 10 communications satellite has entered a new stage, with Breeze M upper stage delivered from a Moscow-based Khrunichev Space Center at the Proton’s launch site at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Today, after the load is offloaded, the Breeze M will be installed in Assembly and Testing Building 92A-50 (renown as “MIK”) where Khrunichev technicians will prepare it for the launch. Khrunichev has already started routine operations with the core Proton M rocket in the same MIK processing center.

DIRECTV-10 is a commercial civil multipurpose communications satellite. The satellite, built on Boeing 702 bus, is designed to provide DIRECTV Inc. customers unprecedented local and national High Definition Television (HDTV) throughout continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The satellite will become the 10th satellite in DIRECTV geostationary orbital constellation.

The launch will be performed under auspices of ILS- International Launch Services Inc., headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area. ILS is a joint US–Russian venture between Space Transport Inc. and its Russian partners – Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia.